DOVER — Neither team has to worry about making the tournament. Both are in. But for now, the Portsmouth High School girls tennis team has the regular-season bragging rights.

In their only meeting of the year, barring a tournament meeting, Portsmouth was a 5-4 winner over rival and defending Division II champion St. Thomas Aquinas on Tuesday at Woodman Park. Both teams were undefeated going into the match.

“We were kind of amped to come here,” Portsmouth’s Kenzie Rhodes said. “We’ve always had a friendly rivalry with St. Thomas, for sure. We’ve been volcanic in practice this week preparing for St. Thomas, because they’re always one of the toughest teams we face.”

Portsmouth won four out of six singles sets, and clinched the win when Eliza McLeod and Erica Murphy teamed for an 8-4 win at No. 2 doubles over the St. Thomas tandem of Maggie Holland and Kellie Corson.

Portsmouth improved to 10-0 while St. Thomas fell to 10-1.

Rhodes won 8-0 over Isabelle Leonardi at No. 1 singles and Jenn Cutliffe of Portsmouth was an 8-4 winner over Michelle Trainor at No. 2. However, the tables were turned at No. 1 doubles, as

Leonardi and Trainor combined for an 8-2 victory over Rhodes and Cutliffe.

“Me and Izzy got our heads together,” Trainor said. “We calmed down and smartened up. We didn’t try to over play. We tried to make them make the mistakes, which worked. Instead of trying to kill every winner, just hit it, place it. That worked 10 times better than trying to nail every shot.”

Trainor, which hadn’t lost a singles set all season, was frustrated with how her set against Cutliffe went at No. 2.

“I beat myself,” Trainor said. “I was up 3-0 and she fought back. But instead of being a good tennis player and fighting through it, I fought myself and I lost it mentally, which wasn’t the best idea.” Trainor said the loss was a good lesson.

“This is one of the first matches that’s challenged us,” Trainor said. “That’s good going into the playoffs. This is a great warmup for playoffs. We need to realize we’re going to be playing a high level of tennis.”

St. Thomas got on the board at No. 3 singles when Holland was an 8-2 winner over McLeod.

“This is always a great team to play against,” Holland said. “It’s one of the most competitive of the season. Tensions are high. We just tried to be consistent today, and that was my main goal.”

At No. 4 singles, Abby Lown of Portsmouth was an 8-2 winner over Corson.

“This has been a feisty rivalry for years now,” Lown said. “They’ve always been a strong team, and last year they had Julia Keenan. With her graduating, their team is still great, but you can’t beat a player like her.”

Keenan, quite possibly the best player in state high-school tennis history, graduated from St. Thomas after going undefeated in singles play for four seasons, including four straight NHIAA individual titles and a pair of team championships with the Saints.

Kenzie Rhodes was happy not to have to stare down Keenan.

“It wasn’t an easy match at all,” Rhodes said. “Izzy is a really good player, but she has big shoes to fill for sure.”

“It took a true team effort to beat another strong team,” said Portsmouth coach Kate Thayer-Rhodes. “Both teams battled really hard. All matches were well played, well fought. Hard-fought matches are always a chance for players to take perspective on how well they’re playing, what to work on, what’s working for them and what they want to add.”

The Murphy/McLeod win at No. 2 doubles clinched the match.

“It’s been a few years,” Murphy said. “We were nervous at the beginning, but we came out strong. We pulled through, which is good.”

Diharce and Ford wrapped up the afternoon with an 8-5 win over Lown and Fedorowich at No. 3, accounting for the final score.

“It was a close match,” St. Thomas coach Rusty Whitehouse said. “Some of the matches weren’t that close, but it tells us that we have a little ways to go. We can’t live and die with every shot. In the tournament, we don’t know what can happen.”